If you've never tried smoked burrata, here's where you can savour a taste of it

Smoked burrata is rich, creamy, and laced with just the right hint of smoke. It's one of the last items we would expect to emerge from a smokehouse, but we're glad some Italian cheesemaker decided to put a hunk of burrata through a baptism of fumes. Few Italian restaurants offer this unusual treat, but thanks to Luca Beccalli, Basilico's newly appointed head chef, gourmands here will get to indulge in this decadent treat at the Regent Hotel's flagship Italian restaurant.

Over at Basilico, Beccalli presents smoked burrata alongside a sweet and tangy San Marzano tomato tartare. A frisee salad adds a burst of freshness to the dish while lashings of basil dressing give the flavours in this dish a verdant lift. This appetiser is one of 15 new items the creative Beccalli has added to the menu at Basilico, and it'll give you good reason to head down to the restaurant if you haven't visited in a while.

Other notable dishes to look out for include fagottini pasta stuffed with pear and Tuscan pecorino cheese, as well as thyme-roasted rack of lamb dressed with a rich, aromatic sauce featuring Barbera wine and star anise. For dessert, call for the homemade saffron gelato. Here's where you whip out your phones and flick it to video mode. This dessert comes in a chocolate orb which melts upon contact with a hot stream of dark chocolate that your waiter pours right before your eyes. It's table-side theatrics at its best — one that calls to mind Guy Savoy's famous chocolate orb dessert.